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Bitter Peace A.D - Demo 2016

Once again there is something to be said about the city of Detroit’s effect on its arts. I first made the comment in my review for Ante Up’s full length, but Detroit is a nearly forgotten wasteland of a city. It experienced the recession years before the rest of the country and pretty much everyone that has an ability to help has turned their back. This feeling of abandonment has become a breeding ground for some very raw, emotional, and sincere music spanning all genres. In hardcore alone, you have the likes Cold As Life, Tyrant, Ante Up, Earthmover, Poison Tongues, and Smash Your Enemies talking about some seriously depressing shit. Growing up, pounding the streets in the city, or even the suburbs, of Detroit will never be considered an easy task and these bands used music as an outlet and a vehicle to give the rest of us a glimpse into their life.

Now enter Bitter Peace AD. Now I may have the track list out of order of how they are actually presenting it, but it takes about 4 seconds into the opening riff of the song Chaos Reigns to know that this is going to be Slayer worship. And it pulls from all eras of Slayer’s catalog as we get some of the down tuned chuggier material from the Diabolus In Musica album on, most notably in the opening of the track Suffer In Silence but the more traditional licks dominate tracks like Retribution and No Salvation. But they definitely make sure they are still a hardcore band at heart as there are a plethora of breakdowns and traditional hardcore two-steps to rein it back in. Since the “evil” theme seems to be present in the song writing, I get a heavy Ark Angel vibe even if that’s by chance.

Now after spending an opening paragraph talking about the message that Detroit bands typically have, Bitter Peace presents their tales in a slightly different manner. I never got the lyrics when I was given this to review so I’m going off pure speculation based on what I was able to put together but they continue to follow the Slayer route in this avenue as well. While they can consider themselves living in an actual hell, songs like Chaos Reigns could serve as metaphor for that as they describe the biblical apocalypse. In Suffer In Silence, atleast what I get from it, is that the residents of the area are basically left to do just that. Their voices aren’t heard and they are left so suffer alone. Or Bitter Peace could just really want to metal the fuck out of their music and talk about some ill shit that would have been presented on Sodom and Destruction records. Who knows? Either way it’s a decent change from hearing about brotherhood, unity, and the working class in hardcore.

Last thing I want to comment on is the production of this demo. For starters, it sounds like a demo and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes I don’t need the insanely overproduced pristine demo. Seeing as they are going for a real throwback sound, it’s nice to have a production level to complement that. The dirtiness of the recording helps bring together the entire idea. It’s kind of like how Power Trip intentionally retros their recordings to sound like it came out in the 80’s…well not nearly as much as Power Trip, but you get the idea.

There is definitely a resurgence in legit metalcore but everyone is going for that sludgy, mosh heavy direction, it’s nice to see bands like Bitter Peace AD writing material that seems to come from a group of guys that legitimately listen to real metal instead of faking it for some Facebook likes. Definitely recommended for those who dig the sounds of Slayer, All Out War, and Ark Angel. I’m greatly anticipating where they go from here.

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